Fadak in
the Political Arena
In addition to being a
reason encouraging others to be unjust to Ahlul-Bayt, the usurping of
Fadak by Abu Bakr ignited political unrest throughot history. Sheik
Jafar Subhani, a leading historian, wrote the following in his book The
Message P.60 1 regarding Fadak throughout history:
"The foundation of the
deprivation of the descendants of Fatima s claim of Fadak was laid in
the time of the First Callph. After the martyrdom of Ali, Mu awiyah
assumed the reins of government and divided Fadak amongst three persons
(Marwan, Amr bin Uthman and his own son, Yazid). During the preriod of
the Caliphate of Marwan, all three shares were assumed by him and he
gifted them to his son, AbdulAziz. He, in turn, gave the same to his
son, Umar. On account of the fact that Umar Bin Abdul Aziz was an
upright person from amongst Bani Umayyah, the frist heresy which he
removed was that he returned Fadak to the descendants of Fatima. After
his death, however, the succeeding Umayyad Caliphs again took away Fadak
from the Bani Hashim and it continued to remain in their possession till
their rule came to an end.
During the Caliphate of
Bani Abbas, the question of Fadak vacillated in a strange manner. For
example, Saffah gave it to Abdullah Bin Hassan and after him Mansur
Dawaniqi took it back but his son Mahdi returned it to the descendants
of Zahrah. After him Musa and Harun took it a way from them on account
of some political considerations. When Ma`mun assumed the office of
caliph, he handed it over formally to its owner. After his death, the
conditions of Fadak vacillated once again and it was returned at one
time to the descendants of Fatima and then taken away from them again.
During the periods of the
Caliphate of Bani Umayah and Bani Abbas, Fadak assumed largely a
political aspect as compared with its pecuniaiy aspect. And even if the
First Caliphs were in need of income from Fadak the later Caliphs and
nobles were so rich that they did not stand in any need of income from
it. Hence, when Umar Bin Abdul Aziz handed over Fadak to the descendants
of Fatima, Bani Umayyah reproached him and said,' By this act of your,
you have found fault with the two venerable men (viz. Abu Bakr and Umar).'
They, therefore, persuaded him to distribute the income from Fadak among
the descendants of Fatima, but to keep its ownership with himself."
Source - Fatima
the Gracious, compiled by Abu Muhammad Ordoni (Jordanian).
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